Stop-motion for knitting-machines.



W. W. BURSON.

STOP MOTION FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22,1912.

Patented Feb. 22

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

'W. W BURSON.

.STOP MOTION FOR KNiTTlNG MACHINES.

- APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1912. 1,172,7 4, Patented- Feb. 22, 1916 3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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w. w. sunsow. STOP MOTION FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, I9I2.

1,172,764. I Patented Feb.22,1916.

J53 S E TSSHEET 3. jg J 2614 2 f2 J3 [a 4 4 I zz WILSON BURSON, ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

mam.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be i known that I, WVILsoN W. BURSON,

' a citizen of the United States, residing in Rockford, in the county of \Vinnebago and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement'in Stop-Motions for '1 Knitting-Machines,- of which the following is'aspecification. I v E: This invention relates to improvements in mechanisms for automatically stopping a machine' of the class wherein a continuous thread, yarn or similar material is fed to the machine Whenever the thread breaks or whenever, for any reason, the thread or 15 yarnfails to freely and readily come off of its spool or cone.

' 1 The object of the invention is to provide a :tomachines using either one or a plurality ofthreads or yarns, so that the machine will mechanism of the class above described,

v-- "which shall be sure and positive in o enthe feeding of the thread or yarn'or other .tion, 'sensitive'toany abnormal conditions in similar.material, and one that is applicable becaut'oinatically stopped upon the breaking ofone of the threads or upon the failure or" any single thread oryarn to unreel freely from its spool or cone, or from any com- --,b nat1onof these abnormal'condltions.

-My-invention furthermore consists in the novel construction ofparts: and devices and J i in the novel combinations of parts and de I "V1068; herein shown and described; and more particularly specified .in the claims.

@111 the drawings formingof this specification, Figurel is an elevation of a ;;knitting :machine showing .mywfimprovements applied thereto .andishowin'g' the belt shifter in its VGItlCaLPOSltIOD, whereby the driving belt is allowed to remain on the fast pulley of the driving shaft of the machine. Fig. Qjs a planyiew of the structure shown in 1, parts of the automaticstop inechanism being removed and showing in dotted linesthe position of the belt shifter when the same has been released by the automatic. stop motion to thereby throw the belt onto 2 the idle pulley of the driving shaft, Fig. 3 is a detail plan View of portions ofthe stop- STOP-MOTION FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented s nse, 1916.

Application filed March 22, 1312. Serial No. C85,!5s6

the line 6- 6 of Fig. 4, and Fig. 7 is a sectional View, taken on the line 77 of Fig. 4:-

In the drawings, Ihave shownwmy automatic'stop mechanism as applied to a knitting machine 10, of the general type shown in my Patent No. 996059, issued June 27, l9ll,wherein the same is driven by a power shaft 11,the same being provided with fast and loose pulleys l2 and 13, and being driven from any suitable source of power, as by means of a belt 14. Mounted in suitable brackets on the frame of the machine is a belt shitting rod 16, the same havinga bent end 17, the latter being adapted normally to be held in a horizontal position, as shown in dotted line in. Fig. 2, by means of a spring 18 secured to the shaft atone end and to one of the brackets 15 at its other end. When the belt shifter has its bent end 17 in a hori- Zontal plane, as shown in dotted line in Fig. 2, the same will keep the driving belt 14 on the loose pulley 13, thereby stopping the machine; When the machine is running, the belt shiftingrod 16 has its end 17 kept a yertical plane by, means of suitable mechanism hereinafter described, said mechanism being, operated by means of the thread or yarn 19 which is being fed from the cone 20 to the knitting machine. The end 17 of the'belt shifter is normally maintained in a vertical plane by means of a crank arm 21 secured to one end of the rod 16 to which is pivoted a connecting rod 22,

' the latter, being pivotally connected at its upper end with one end 23 of an operating lever '24, loosely mounted on a shaft 25.

' The other end 26 of the lever 24 is normally held down by means of an oscillating hub 27, so that it will be understood that the end 23 of the lever 2A is kept raised and thus retains the portion 17 of the belt shifting rod 16 in a vertical plane against the tension of the spring lS. The shaft or arm 25 is adju'stably' mounted in a sleeve 28, the latter being in" turn adjustably mounted on a vertical rod or post 29 secured to *the machine.

I have shown my automatic stop mechanism in connection with a knitting machine employing two threads, but inasmuch as practically all of the mechanism controlled by each thread is substantially aduplicate of each of the other mechanisms, I shall only describethe meehanisin controlled by a single thread, except .where a member is used which is common to all the stopping mechanisms. Also mounted on the supporting arm or shaft 25 is a bracket 30, provided at its inner end with a secondary bracket 31, in which are secured the eyes 32 and 33, through which the thread or yarn passes to the knitting mechanism. Each bracket 30 is provided with a plurality of lugs or arms 34, 35 and 36, as indicated more particularly in Fig. 4 of the drawing. Pivotally mount- 'tegrally therewith a lug .or projection 39 (see Fig. 5). The arm 34 is furthermore provided with a stop pin 40 to limit the upward movement of the tension lever 37 against the action of the spring 41 secured to a suitable eye 42 at one end, mounted on the bracket 30, and having its opposite end secured to the hub 38.

Pivotally mounted on each extension or arm 36 is a take up lever 43, the same being provided with an eye at its outer en through which the thread or yarn 19 passes, the lever being adapted to be thrown upward by means of a spring 44, secured at one end to the lever 43, and to a suitable stationary finger 45 of the bracket 30. It will be understood that under'normal operating conditions, the lever 43 is maintained in the horizontal position, such asshown in full line in Fig. 1, by the tension of the thread or yarn 19 passing through the eye at its outer end to the knitting machine, but that when the thread or yarn breaks, the spring 44 will throw the lever 43 into the position shown in dotted line in Fig. 1. R0- tatably mounted in the arms. 36 is the shaft 46, to which is secured the hub 27, as by means of a set screw 47 as shown in Fig. 6.

The shaft 46 is provided with an extension which is bent so as to form a U having the vertical portion 48, and the upper horizontal portion 49, as shown in Fig. 6. This extension is made long enough so as to include all of the mechanisms for each thread or yarn being fed to the knitting mechanism, so that the operation of the same by any of the individual levers, in a manner as hereinafter described, will rotate the hub 27 and release the lever 24. The hub 27 is provided with a flat face 50, see Fig. 4, whichis normally 'in the position as shown in said figure, but

when a thread or yarn breaks, thus releasing the lever 43, the latter will fly up to the position shown in dotted line in Flg. 1, due to the tension of the spring 44, and will engage the upper member 49 of the shaft 46 and thus rotate the hub 27 to a position where the fiat face 50 thereon allows the end 26 of the operating lever 24 to pass by, thereby allowing the opposite end 23 of the lever 24 to go down and rotate the belt shifting rod 16 under the influence of the spring 18. 'Pivotally mounted on each arm or extension 36 is anotherlever 51, having pivctally connected thereto at its outer end a rod 52, the latter being guided and held in position by means of a staple or loop 53 on the upright 35. The end of the rod 52 is tapered and normally rests on the lug 39 and is held down by the tapered end engaging in the pocket formed between the lug 39 and the ub 38, and thus preventing the lever 51 from being moved under the influence of a spring 54 connected thereto at one end, and to the eye 42. When, for any reason, thread or yarn fails to unrcel freely from its cone 20, the tension lever 37' will be pulled down against the action of the spring 41 to the position shown in dotted line in Fig. 1, whereupon the tapered end of the rod 52 will be thrown up over the hub 38 by the lug 39, thereby allowing the lever 51 to move into engagement with the upper extension 49 of the shaft 46, which will operate to rotate the hub 27 to a position where the fiat face 50 thereonwill allow the end 26 of the lever 24 to pass thereby in a manner similar to that described heretofore. The hub 27 is pref erably provided with a handle 55, whereby the same may be manually set so as to retain the end 26 in its normal position.

As will be understood, when the lever 24 is re-set by manipulating the handle 55, the rod 52 will also be simultaneously set in the notch 39.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that if any thread or yarn being fed breaks, the correspondin take up lever 43 will be released and will hy upward and allow the lever 24 to be released, and thus shift the belt 14 onto the idle pulley 13, If, on the other hand, any thread fails to properly come off from its spool or cone, its corresponding tension lever 37 will be pulled down and will in turn release the lever 24 in the manner as hereinbefore described. a

I have shown my improvements as ap pliedto a knitting machine, but it will be understood that the construction shown and described is merely illustrative, and that the same may be varied and modified and sin-- ployed in other kinds of machines without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all changes, variations and modifications are contemplated as fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim 1. A stop motion including, in combination: lever 24; a tension lover; an oscillatable member having a cutaway portion. normally holding one end of said lever 24 against movement, said member having an arm by vvhich it is moved; and spring-con I trolled'means normally locked in inoperative an arm 49 secured to said hub; means inter:

mediate the tension lever and said arm 49* adapted to be released when the tension increases beyond normal to thereby operate said arm 49; and means for moving saidtension lever to operate the said arm 49 when the thread specified. 4

' WILSON BURSON.

breaks, substantially as I Witnesses:

A. W. ROBERTSON, GODFREY HULSTEDT. 

